Travel to and from the YYC Calgary International Airport was thrown into a bit of a tailspin on Thursday after WestJet cancelled flights ahead of Friday’s expected work stoppage relating to the pilots’ strike.
Mid-afternoon, 39 WestJet departures and 20 arrivals were cancelled, the airport’s website showed.
And according to flight tracking website FlightAware, 111 of the airline’s flights were cancelled on Thursday – 31 per cent of their flights that day.
Thursday morning, WestJet said the cancellations were part of parking the majority of its Boeing 737 and 787 fleet, minimizing the potential for the aircraft and their crew to be stranded if/when the strike took hold first thing Friday.
Travellers at YYC were having to figure out next steps for their travel plans.
Brad Syson said there was a bit of nervousness as he was boarding a WestJet flight to San Francisco at the Calgary International Airport on Thursday morning.
“It sounds like they’re trying to make it painless for sure, as far as cancellation and stuff like that,” he said. “Might have to book an Air Canada flight to get home.”
Kate Syson said the May long weekend trip was now a bit more complicated as more flights were being cancelled.
“Monday is a holiday, but Tuesday I have to be (back at work), so that’s a little bit nerve-wracking,” she said.
Mark Hodsdon was trying to return home to Toronto following a work trip in Calgary when he arrived at the airport and was met with the news that some WestJet flights to Pearson International Airport had been cancelled.
He said he was having a hard time getting any answers from the airline.
“I’m scrambling. I can’t get anywhere with WestJet. I bought a flight with Air Canada to get out of here on Saturday. And so basically I’ll be charging WestJet for a hotel stay and the other flight,” Hodsdon said. “It basically will be comfortable tonight in the hotel. But I needed to get back to Toronto and obviously, that’s not going to happen today.”
Air Passenger Rights president Gabor Lukacs said under the Air Passenger Protections Regulations, airlines must offer alternative travel arrangements if a flight is cancelled using a “reasonable route” on the next available flight within 48 hours of the original departure time.
Lukacs suggested a specific “sequence” for passengers to consider before seeking an alternate option.
“Wait until the flight is cancelled. Give WestJet a chance to rebook you. If they refuse to do so or fail to do so, or if they refuse to rebook you on flights of other airlines, for example, even though they don’t have their own flight within 48 hours, then you can go and buy your own ticket and then you send the bill to WestJet,” he said, adding if they still won’t pay the bill, a person can take it to small claims court.
WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said the company “deeply regrets” the disruption in travel plans, but said they were “left with no choice” but to wind down operations as they remain at a “critical impasse” in contract negotiations with pilots.
Bernard Lewall, who heads the union’s WestJet contingent, has said the workers’ issues revolve around pay, job security and scheduling, and says pilots are earning roughly half of what some of their U.S. counterparts make.
More than 1,800 pilots at WestJet and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to walk off the job as of 5 a.m. eastern on Friday after the union issued a strike notice Monday night.
The airline is advising travellers to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport, and to visit WestJet’s Guest Updates page or Swoop’s information hub for more information regarding flight status and travel changes.
On Wednesday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra encouraged the two sides to reach a resolution, noting Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan and a mediator — Peter Simpson, who heads the federal mediation service — are on the ground at the negotiations.
–with files from Aaron D’Andrea and Sean Previl, Global News